


Thorns

by Worm_Boy_99 (Jade444)



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Blackrom, Blood Kink, Blood Loss, Blood and Injury, Hate Sex, Hate to Love, Hurt/Comfort, Knifeplay, M/M, Pitch quadrant, Repressed Feelings, There's like... kind of dubcon for some of it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:27:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23739820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jade444/pseuds/Worm_Boy_99
Summary: Karkat's been in a pitch quadrant with Dave for years now, and he takes part in one of their.... well, interesting interactions, but a short mistake gets him in deeper shit than he bargained for.
Relationships: Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas, DaveKat
Comments: 3
Kudos: 51





	Thorns

Karkat was so fucked.

Literally.

He was lingering at the doorway to the basement. He knew Dave was down there, in their personal living room-esque safety area. He knew what was coming. Almost every time he was invited down there for ‘sparring’ he ended up significantly injured, not to say he didn’t love it. It was testing the limits, however, as Karkat hadn’t even healed fully from the last time.

Of course, though, he didn’t even think twice before accepting the offer.

He gripped the rail as he slowly descended the stairs, feeling like every step was creaking under his feet. Eventually he reached the bottom, and looked around. Dave was at his desk like normal, and Karkat’s face lit up at this opportunity. 

He approached the distracted human, who had his headphones on. Probably working on some shitty rap music. Sure enough, Karkat stepped behind him, and there was no response. He slowly moved his hand to cup around the front of Dave’s neck, claws pressing against the pale skin. Almost immediately, Dave stiffened, not daring to move for a solid moment. Then, he lightly pushed Karkat’s hand away, turning to get up.

Within seconds, Karkat was being lifted, his legs wrapping around the others waist with a pair of hands roughly pressing to his back to keep him up. He felt the sting of his old mostly-healed cuts being disturbed, and gave a tiny whine.

In return, Karkat dug his claws into Dave’s back and relished in the warm wet that he could now feel on his fingers. He nuzzled his face into the crook of Dave’s neck and whined again, louder, when the human’s fingers pressed even harder down his skin and he was carried toward the couch. He couldn’t pinpoint the scent Dave had specifically, but there was definitely the tinge of blood in there.

Soon he was set down on the couch with Dave coming up between his legs. He shivered the moment after his sweater was peeled off of him, revealing the scarred surface of his skin. He still had a few bandages plastered to the worse of the cuts, and knew Dave would have to keep away from those ones.

It was almost uncomfortably long that Dave stared at his torso, and Karkat gave another tiny whine. “Stop taking so fucking long.” He hissed, reaching a hand forward to tuck under Dave’s pants and dig into the flesh of his hip. 

His impatience was rewarded by a short but sweet slap across the cheek, and his grin widened. Karkat moved his hand from Dave's hip to work on removing the others’ shirt completely as well as unbuttoning his pants. 

He managed to finish the process before he was pushed back harder into the couch, then lifted and their positions were switched. He now sat atop Dave’s lap, and in the process he had removed the rest of his own clothing, leaving him absolutely naked. Dave ran his nails sharply down Karkat’s back. The dull pain got him gasping and his grip on Dave tightening. The human’s nails weren’t quite sharp enough to puncture skin, but-

_ Click. _

The sound of Dave’s pocket knife snapping open and glinting dangerously in the dim light of the room, right in front of Karkat’s face. Taunting. Of course Dave had that again. The sight sent chills down Karkat’s spine, and he grinned, leaning forward so the blade touched dangerously against the skin of his throat, and nibbling at Dave’s bottom lip. He felt the knife move away, and bit down a little harder, causing blood to taint his own mouth. Almost immediately, there was a sharp pain poking at his side, just below the remaining bandage on that area. 

Karkat moved his head to Dave’s shoulder, pressing his cheek against the skin there. A threat if there ever was one. 

Quite different this time than last time, he felt Dave’s hand raise to press a thumb against his horn. What? What was he doing? Horns were normally off limits, because they weren’t matesprits or moirails or anything. 

Suddenly there was a dull nail pressing into the base of his horn, and pleasure mixed with pain rocketed straight from his horns to the rest of his body. He pulled back from Dave’s neck, back trying to arch so he could reel back. 

“Ahhghn-” Karkat moaned, and his movements only made the feeling worse and better. “F-Fuck-” He gasped as Dave released his horn, and stared at the other for a solid moment. The dumb shades were removed now, as per their agreement. If Karkat was going to trust the other with his blood, then surely Dave could trust him when it came to the pretty reds.

The other just looked smug. Karkat growled low and leaned forward again, sinking his teeth into the human’s shoulder. This resulted in a low moan, the sound paired with the taste of blood caused a flutter inside Karkat’s chest. The flavor was addicting at this point. 

He paired the bite with clawing Dave’s lower back, only somewhat intentionally pressing his bulge harder against Dave’s crotch.

“Patience, Karkat.” Dave’s voice dripped with what might have sounded like malice. “We’ve hardly started.” 

The words came with the cold blade running a line horizontal underneath Karkat’s grubscars. He moaned again, louder this time. He could feel his own blood dripping down his skin, the tangy smell of the stuff filling the air. 

Now Karkat could feel the aching pain setting in, the high bobbing and weaving in his mind.

“Please.” He whimpered, everything going on was lowering his ability to have some sense of pride. He just wanted to be fucked. Hard. Now. If he had to force the other to realize this, then so be it.

“Be patient.”

The words, however few, fueled Karkat’s anger. 

Within the next few minutes, Karkat had Dave clawed up. Long lines down his back, and front, and legs. Karkat himself had earned a few more deeper cuts over his chest and one shallow clean cut on his cheek. It was gonna be hard hiding the color of blood under bandages now, so he might as well get as much as he can out of this encounter.

Karkat’s eyes glittered with fury as he ground his hips down against Dave’s, bulge pressing against Dave’s stomach and pinned between them. 

“Fuck. Me.” He demanded, fingers running through the blonde hair and pulling on it lightly at first. He could feel himself getting lightheaded, but ignored it. This situation came too far for him to try and take a break.

Finally, he was being moved to lay on his back on the couch, back propped up against the armrest. He clamped his legs against Dave’s sides as he felt the others’ bulge press against his nook. There was no time spared in getting him used to it, Dave pressing into hilt. The stretching feeling was painful, and Karkat loved it. It added to the ache forming all over.

He relished in the fact that he was now being fucked mercilessly into the couch he was now bleeding all over. There was the feeling of Dave pulling out, then pushing back in, hard. Karkat clamped his hand on Dave’s shoulder, moaning loudly and digging his claws into the skin.

He certainly wasn’t going to last very long at this pace. Neither of them, probably.

“H-Harder.” Karkat grinned, his own red-tinted eyes staring into Dave’s. His free hand stayed twined in the others’ hair, hips rocking with the motion. The rhythmic pace of in and out, in and out, in and out, with Dave thrusting as hard as he could.

By now, Karkat’s head was swimming. He moaned and whined, feeling close to the edge.

“Daaave, I-I looove you~” He groaned, panting heavily. Fuck. Did he really just say that? Dave seemed shocked as well, his pace faltering.

“What? Fucking  _ what _ did you just say?” He slowed to a stop and pulled out, both of them breathing heavily. “Karkat?” 

“P-Please just.. .fucking… finish.” Karkat growled and glared up at him. “This isn’t the t-time for some shitty talk.”

“Karkat.” God damn it. Dave sounded serious. He sat back, hands lingering on Karkat’s outer thighs. “Why did you say that?”

Karkat suddenly felt very open. He scooted backward to sit up, clamping his hands on his own arms. “Sorry.” He mumbled, not able to meet Dave’s gaze. “I didn’t mean it. I hate you. There. I said the right thing now.” He tried, glancing at Dave’s face. He couldn’t handle the concern or confusion he found there.

There wasn’t any response yet. Karkat was starting to be afraid. Afraid that he fucked up hardcore. His fear was confirmed when Dave got up, and walked away. Karkat whimpered and brought his knees to his chest, and pressed his palms hard to his forehead.  _ Fuck. Fuck. Why did I do that.  _ He’d ruined his chances now.

He yelped when suddenly a hand grabbed at his wrist, pulling his hand from his face. The touch was gentle, something he wasn’t used to from Dave. “What the fuck are you doing?” Karkat asked dryly, confused.

No response, he was just handed a pair of boxers, which he gladly pulled on. He would have to change them again, soon, because he still had fluids leaking from his nook, and there were a few small bleeding cuts there. The ache all over his body only seemed to be getting more unpleasant as the time passed. He felt like his life force was escaping him, and started seeing spots in his vision. He was handed a bottle of water, and once he took it, Dave started upon bandaging his worst wounds. This was new. Normally Karkat had to do this himself.

“You lost too much blood.” Dave said, and Karkat knew he was mad. “You know to tell me when this happens, Karkat.” 

Karkat huffed, sipping from the bottle in his hand. “I-I get it. I fucked up.” He said quietly, voice as shaky as his hands now.

“I’m supposed to be able to trust you to take care of yourself.” Dave’s voice was scolding, and made the troll feel like he was a child being told off. Karkat slowly moved his legs to give Dave better access to his injuries. “You could have gotten hurt bad, Karkat.”

“I know! Fuck, I know.” Karkat snapped. His emotions were all conflicting and confusing. “I’m sorry, okay?!” He could feel his voice cracking. “Let’s all just start telling me exactly how much I’ve fucked up like normal, right? If we hammer it into my mind enough then maybe I’ll either learn something, or hopefully the nail will just strike a soft spot and we won’t have to worry anymore, right?”

He was saying way too much right now, but he couldn’t help himself. He was already in the hole, might as well dig it deeper.

He could have started again, but Dave’s furious gaze locked on his face. Oh, fuck. Well, if he had fucked up before, now it was so much worse.

Dave didn’t even say anything. Why didn’t he ever say anything. Always, whenever Karkat wanted - no, needed - a response, he never got it. He could only guess all the insults and anger swirling around in Dave’s head that he just wasn’t saying.

Most of karkat’s smaller cuts now had been patched up, and Dave leaned forward to loop the roll around his back. For a second they were so, so close. And it felt different than every time before. Then Dave leaned back again, finishing up with the bigger wounds. Karkat noticed Dave’s cuts hadn’t been taken care of.

“C-Can I help…?” Karkat stammered, suddenly feeling very small and very on edge when it came to Dave. He might as well try and fix one of the things he caused, right?

Dave hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “Okay.” He said, moving to sit on the couch. Karkat grabbed the first aid kit that Dave had gotten when he left at first.

He started work on Dave, very carefully. He was afraid to make any wrong moves. He didn’t know what Dave was going to do other than just scolding him. Obviously he was going to do something else, right? Karkat surely deserved it. It’s not like normal punishments were in order, that would be counterproductive. But then what would Dave do? 

Fear jabbed Karkat’s heart. What if Dave left him? What if he kicked him out? Karkat could stay with one of his friends, but he didn’t think he could handle that. Dave was the only one he could trust it seemed, but he’d broken the mutual trust now.

The more he thought about it, the more his hands faltered and the closer he was getting to outright panic. It got to the point he couldn’t even move properly to bandage Dave, and he felt tears pricking at his eyes.

Dave noticed the lull in movement, and turned to look at Karkat. Surprise crossed his expression and he once again gently grabbed Karkat’s wrist, stopping his movements. “What’s wrong???”

Dumb question. Everything was wrong, and Karkat couldn’t handle it. Why did he have to say that? He could have lived through his whole ass life as Dave’s kismesis and he would have been fine with that. But now he fucked it up. Of course he did.

“Wh-What are you gonna do…?” Might as well get his worry out there.

“What the fuck do you mean?”

Karkat’s head was reeling. He reached to take another drink from his water bottle. Once he was done with that, a whine bubbled up in his throat. “I mean, Dave… I fucked up. Wh-Where do we go from here?”

Dave sighed, and stared at him for a moment. “I want to know if you meant it. That you love me. I need an explanation.”

“Of course I didn’t mean it.” Karkat lied, maybe he could salvage this situation. “I wasn’t thinking straight, I said the wrong thing.” He knew he didn’t sound convincing in the slightest. Fuck, he was making his situation worse.

“Karkat.” Dave’s tone was warning, and Karkat winced.

“Sorry.” He mumbled, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. “I did mean it. I love you.” He admitted, the words burning like hot coals in his mouth.

“Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“I didn’t want to ruin my chances.” His tone was growing bitter. “I’m a fucking mess, Dave. I can’t keep to one fucking quadrant with any single person. I thought maybe I could force myself to keep to just one this time, and maybe the other feelings would go away with time.” 

“And it didn’t work.” Dave stated. 

“Yeah.” Karkat finally opened his eyes. He couldn’t read Dave’s expression. “Are we done?”

“I just need to finish up these real quick-”

“No. I mean… are we over? Done?” 

“I…” Dave hesitated. “I don’t know?”

“What… how do you feel about this?” Karkat asked, he needed to know what Dave was thinking.

“I’m gonna be honest, Karkat. I started out only trying this whole pitch thing because I didn’t want you to leave me. I never expected to actually like it, but…” 

The pause was going to break Karkat. He was going to crumble right then and there into dust.

“...I’m willing to be whatever you need me to be. Even if that means only doing what we’ve been doing forever, even if it means we entirely change our dynamic.” 

Karkat could hardly believe what he was hearing. No, he  _ couldn’t _ . Everything Dave was saying contradicted everything else in Karkat’s mind. “I don’t understand how you can say that.” He steadied his breath and stared into Dave’s eyes. 

“Well, I’m serious about it. But, uh… either way, we’re going to hold off on… certain stuff. For a while.” 

Karkat couldn’t help a tiny laugh at that.

“What? Am I saying something funny?” Dave said in mock annoyance.

“I can’t believe that’s the one thing you have to clarify.” Karkat huffed, then watched as Dave started bandaging himself up the rest of the way. Karkat still didn’t think he could move yet. He was way too shaky just sitting down.

“Mhm.” Dave hummed and finished with securing the last bit of bandage. “Hold on, I’ll be back.” He said, then half-ran up the stairs. Karkat could hear the footsteps and moving around of Dave even down here, and shifted his position. Luckily he didn’t have to wait much longer, Dave was back empty handed.

“I got the bathroom ready. Figure we should clean up.” 

“You decided to clean up after we already got patched up?” Karkat raised a brow.

“I never said I’m the smartest boy, Karkat.” 

“Yeah, clearly.” 

“Plus, I needed to stop you from bleeding out everywhere. Don’t want you bleeding out in the bathtub.”

“Sounds like fun.” Karkat said, then he had a hand lightly placed over his face.

“Hush.” Dave picked Karkat up bridal style and started for the stairs. Karkat gently rested his head against Dave’s chest, trying not to put too much pressure on any injuries. He only somewhat missed the normal rough handling from Dave, but he couldn’t say he didn’t like the gentle affection a lot more.

He watched the walls pass until they reached the bathroom, where he was set on the edge of the tub.

“Pants off.” Dave ordered, patting a pile of clothes on the counter.

Karkat raised a brow. “Wow, I thought you said no more stuff for a while.”

“Maybe if you’re good I’ll give you a treat.” Dave said ominously, then grabbed a rag, getting it wet. He walked over to sit on the floor on his knees in front of Karkat, waiting until the only clothing piece was removed before starting on cleaning the troll’s skin. 

Karkat couldn’t stop a slight shiver at Dave straying to sensitive territory, but he was trying not to react too much. He didn’t want to get worked up again only to be left hanging. It kind of seemed like Dave was  _ trying _ to tease him, though. 

“Oh boy, I can’t wait for that treat when you inevitably are amazed by how  _ good _ I can be.” Karkat purred as Dave kept wiping off all the drying blood staining his skin. He didn’t think touching could  _ be _ this calm and gentle, and he felt like he was being plunged into a different world.

“What do we want to do now?” Dave asked, rinsing off the rag under the bathtub faucet. “I’ll do what you want. Within reason, of course.”

Karkat had to think about that. “W-Well, I kinda want to try something, but it’s kind of dumb…”

“What is it?” 

“Um…” He laughed nervously and then slowly moved to wrap his arms around Dave’s back, pulling him into a hug. Almost instantly Dave hugged him back. Karkat cupped the back of Dave’s head and played with his hair, purring quietly. “I like this.” 

“I do too.” 

“I wanna try one more thing. Then we have to go watch a movie, okay?” Karkat pulled back, hand over Dave’s cheek, thumb gently brushing over the soft skin. 

“Okay.” 

Karkat slowly moved his face forward, closing the distance between them and pressing his lips to Dave’s. He had forgotten the earlier bite, but he noted it and moved on carefully. Dave almost too eagerly kissed back, hand moving to Karkat’s hip. Karkat gave a happy sigh and pulled away after a moment. 

He was really worried that this might not work out, but for now he could be happy with the situation at hand. 

Temptation rose to the surface, and he decided to try and test it out.

He’d already said it before, but he needed to get used to saying it.

“I love you.” He said, pouring his heart into those two words.

“I love you too.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Hey thanks for reading! If you can, I always appreciate comments <3


End file.
